


Shockingly dependent on him

by SongForReluctantHeroes



Series: The adventures of fem!Stark [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Again, Angst, Brutal recovery, Clint aka little bird, Electrocution, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Fluff, Heartache, Heartbreak, I make people cry, M/M, Might get explicit but idk I'll change the warning when and if needed, Missions have to continue without Toni and Steve (because Steve is always with her), Multi, Severe burning, Steve has to look after Toni, The Avengers (minus Thor bc Asgard) have to look after Toni, Toni hates it because she's a strong; independent; genius; billionaire; playgirl; philantropist, everyone cries, i cry, loss of senses, we all cry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6998791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongForReluctantHeroes/pseuds/SongForReluctantHeroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Antoinette, Toni, Stark gets electrocuted with a voltage of 10 000 milliamps (which usually leads to death, cardiac arrest, and major burning), her nerves are left fried, along with severe burning to her skin, and her senses almost totally gone. Steve, her partner of all but a month, takes to looking after her. It infuriates her that she can do nothing on her own, but Steve accepts all her anger, and takes care of her anyway. Basically, she's a whiny little bitch during her recovery, and Steve deals with it the best he can, but when you're dealing with a blind, self-destructive, self-hating idiot who hates being looked after like a child (and whom you love very much), it's a little hard to do your job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shockingly dependent on him

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Please be aware that this fic will not be updated very often, as I do not get much time to write, but needed a stress outlet! Please don't comment saying I need to update (I already know I do), as that tends to put me off doing so- I don't like being told what to do. But anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Antoinette Stark whined as bullets bounced off of her armor, tiny flashes on metal.  
"Steve! I need a little help here!" She yelled into coms, a large group of heavily armed terrorists shooting at her- too many for her to handle.  
"I'm coming, crybaby!" Said help teased, earning a huff from the woman.  
"Fuck you, Steve."  
"Not now, Toni, you can do that later, sweetie."  
"... I hate you so much."  
"No, you don't, not really."  
"Yes, I do, really."  
"Oh, so you don't want my help then?"  
"Would you rather fuck a dead body?"  
"Fair point." Steve ended their oh so common 'roast war', having finally gotten nearer to Toni (well, to the roof of the building she was facing). He took out the roof shooters, and then moved through the building. Toni fought the guys on the ground, her suit whirring and clanking to keep up, occasionally joined by a quip from JARVIS. She didn't see the bulky man coming up behind her, a crackling, sparkling rod in hid hands. She didn't see it, but boy, did she feel it.  
"Fight this, Iron Woman." Rang through her ears, as 10,000 milliamps of electricity fled through her suit, burning her skin. She screamed. It has taken her by surprise, and it fucking killed (it also killed her suit, taking JARVIS offline). Steve heard the bloodcurdling scream, his mind filling with horrifying images.  
"TONI!" His movement got quicker, sloppier as he tried to make his way over sooner. "TONI?! BABY I'M COMING! IT'LL BE OKAY!" But she could not hear him. She was left twitching on the ground, muscles and suit involuntarily, independently spasming. Her body was fighting a cardiac arrest. Her new heart was NOT going to let her have one. She was completely open for attack, perfectly vulnerable- though not if Steve could help it. The electric shock had completely wiped out JARVIS' software from the suit, not to mention the damage it had done to her. She was whining, screaming, and groaning, vision white, a wailing screech in had ears. It sounded like she was calling out for Steve, but her words were so slurred and incoherent, and her volume kept rising and falling, that it was hard to tell. As soon as he got outside he knee that she was- he'd heard it many times, in many different situations. It broke his heart, to be honest.  
"Hey! Get away from her!" Cap growled at the guys trying to peel off her armor. They all moved, though a pair of them went to pick Toni up, the rest lunged towards Steve.  
"I'm going to save her. So save yourselves the trouble, and step aside." He warned, eyes darting between Toni, her captors, and those that stood between them. One of the men went to flee, but another held him in place. There were only six or seven of them left (excluding the two with Stark), but their mission must have been important, because they were all still stood there. "Your choice." He grunted, charging at the group. Steve had only moved a few feet when the one closest to him fell, an arrow in his chest. One of Clint's arrows, to be precise.  
"Go get her, Cap. Backup has arrived!" The archer announced gleefully, the mighty roar of the Hulk following it, and pounding footsteps behind him. 'Tasha would be somewhere nearby, so he continued to run at the group, shield held in front of him. The men toppled over as he ploughed straight through the middle of them. Nothing would stop him from getting to Toni. She was still in a state, tears streaming down her covered face (though it wasn't like she could tell if she was wearing the suit- every sense was blocked out by a blinding light, fizzling every nerve ending, screeching through her head, tearing through her body).  
"Hey! Put. Her. Down." Steve yelled, coming up to the two holding Toni. "Now."  
They spoke to each other in a foreign language. Not from Saudi Arabia where they were currently fighting, but a language that Steve did not recognize. His scowl deepened when one of them raised their gun, shifting Toni onto the other guy. The two were hobbling away, the gun pointed at Steve. He almost laughed- he could brush a few bullets off, no problem.  
"You stay." The gun-wielder shouted, flinching when Toni's arm spasmed and hit him. "You stay," He repeated, scrabbling to pull off the suit's mask. "you stay or she die." He grunted, ripping off the front of her helmet, her groans of pain no longer muffled. Steve hadn't heard the noises before because of the suit. The gun was then pressed to Toni's face- he couldn't see where, but he knew that it wouldn't kill her if it was shot. Probable brain and sensory damage, as well as nails-on-whiteboard pain, and a job too big for plastic surgery. "You stay." Steve nodded along this time, not knowing quite how to go about this. All of his military training couldn't help him with this. He slowly held up his hand in a 'don't shoot me' manor, crouching down to place his shield on the ground, his other hand then joining the first in its plea.  
"S...teeeve..." Toni whined, calling out for him to help her, wherever he was. Captain America didn't know what to do. She was dead if he moved, and dead if he didn't. He was still assessing his choices, watching the men stumble away with his girl, when the arrow found its way into the gun-holder's skull, and then his friend's. As soon as they started to slump, and Toni began to fall, Steve was up and gone, diving across the dusty floor to catch her.  
"St...eevee..." She moaned, as Cap pulled her tight against his body. "Shh, shh, it'll be okay, Toni, I've got you." He mumbled, wiping away the still-falling tears, but she kept calling out for him. She called out for him when the others got to her, she called out for him on the way to the hospital, and she called out for him for hours in the hospital. Steve was right beside her, of course, but her senses could not tell her that. It was probably for the best that she didn't hear him sobbing.

 

Antoinette Stark should have died that day. She should have gone into cardiac arrest, too, but her new heart fought it well. The 10,000 milliamp current had fried most of her nerves, had burnt through several layers of her skin, and had heavily damaged her senses. They didn't think she was going to make it through the seemingly endless surgery. But she did. Her heart faltered once or twice, but she came back to Steve.

 

The recovery was brutal. Her taste and smell were gone, hearing heavily faded, touch barely there. But what got Steve the most were her eyes. They'd been damaged too, of course; scarring across the delicate tissues of her irises, retinas, and corneas. They were always shut and bandaged from that point on-wards, even when in the bath (she couldn't even shower on her own, and Steve had to make sure she didn't drown in the bath). He could no longer see her beautiful brown eyes, and knew that when she was eventually allowed to open them, they wouldn't be the same.

 

Throwing up had become a more than daily habit. Five weeks after her near death experience, Toni hated life. She couldn't do anything. Steve had to feed her, bathe her, clothe her, and hell, he even had to help her go to the toilet. What made Toni the most upset, though, was the fact that she couldn't work. But she could throw up, and throw up she would. It was caused by her medications (supplied by SHIELD to help her heal quicker so they could have their Iron Woman back up and running ASAP, as well as their Captain America, seeing as he was permanently by her side); her body rejected them, but she took them anyway- some parts of the medication were absorbed before being regurgitated. Toni had to take them every six hours. Which also meant that every six hours she was sick. It sucked. It really did. She hated being looked after, because Thor damnit she was a strong, independent, genius, billionaire, playgirl, philanthropist... Who relied on Steve to keep her alive.

Currently, she was sat on the large couch in her home at Malibu Point -it had been rebuilt since it'd been bombed- and she was listening to the faint sound of classical music (she knew it was actually quite loud, but she could barely hear it anyway).  
"Steve?" She mumbled, hands flaying around as she stood up. She fall back onto the soft surface with a whine. She'd been sat so long that her legs had gone numb, and she hadn't noticed. "Steve!" Toni tried again, not aware that she was shouting slightly. The music stopped, and the horrid, high-pitched whine sounded through her ears on a loop, the way it always did now, whenever the room was silent. "Ste-" light hands on her cheeks stopped her cry. Well, she thought they were hands, but she couldn't feel hands, just the slight pressure here and there, the dodgy outline of three fingers and a decapitated thumb. The corners of her lips raised in a smile. "I want to go outside." Toni hummed.  
"Okay, sweetie. Do you ... Wheelchair?" Came Steve's soft reply- he must have been speaking right next to her ear, but she still missed a few words.  
"No. Don't need a wheelchair."  
"If you're sure, sweetie."  
"Stop with the 'sweetie'." Her voice had been louder than she had thought, because she heard her own voice very quietly (something that happened rarely now). "It's uncharacteristic." She explained, feeling from his hands, down his arms to his firm shoulders. Steve laughed quietly, and oh Thor, she wanted to hear it properly again. His hands moved to her waist, and he slowly lifted her to her feet. Once he was certain she wouldn't fall, Steve took her hand, his free arm wrapping around her waist, and her other hand on top of his. Together they wobbled to the back door, Toni repeatedly whining about not being able to see (as per usual).  
"Flowers!" She gasped as soon as they stepped outside. She hadn't been out in a few days. Steve smiled, leaning down to kiss her hair (he didn't care if she'd know or not).  
"Yeah. I wish you could see it. I bought hundreds of flowers, Toni, all different colours. It's like a rainbow. Beautiful, bright red poppies, purple lavender, and these warm marigolds a lovely old lady was selling by the side of the road. They're so pretty, baby, and they smell real nice. I can't wait for you to see them."  
"When... When did you plant them?" Toni mumbled, holding back a sob.  
"Yesterday. That's why 'Tasha came to look after you. Clint and I were out here. I wanted you to be able to smell something that was almost as beautiful as you." Steve pulled her close as she tears crying, all choking gasps and tears that soaked through her bandages.  
"Hey, hey, shh. It's okay. You'll be better one day, baby, I'll be with you." Steve soothed, stroking her hair comfortingly. After a few minutes she calmed down, but he still held her tightly.  
"Thank you." Stark sighed, nudging her face into his neck. Steve smiled, leaning to the side to pick one of the poppies, pressing the stem into her hand.  
"You'll be okay." He repeated, lifting the flower up to her face for her to smell. "You'll get your senses back in baby steps." Toni nodded softly, inhaling the sweet scent of the poppy.  
"As long as these flowers don't emit a poisonous gas." She teased, still sniffling.  
"Oh, they do, I'm just resistant to it."  
"So you are trying to kill me! I knew it!"  
"Well of course I am! I'm jealous that  _you_ get all of the attention!"  
" _I_ earned it. Unlike some people."  
"Oh? So I don't earn your attention by looking after you?"  
"You have my attention for how fucking hot you are, Rogers." Toni smirked, brushing her hand down his chest for emphasis.  
"Do I, now? Is that all you pay attention to me for?" Steve chuckled, pulling back to look at her still red, slightly charred face.  
"Well of course it is!" She grinned, holding onto his shoulders once again as he tilted her head up with thumb and forefinger.  
"Glad to know you care." He mused before leaning down to kiss her. It was soft and sweet, as all their kisses had been after her surgery. Toni actually had feeling in her lips- not fully, but it was enough that she could feel a warm tingle against them. She smiled against him, accepting multiple kisses across her lips and face before she pulled back with a small laugh.  
"I always care. I care too much, is my problem." She mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder. Steve held onto her waist tightly, swaying them, almost as if they were dancing. Soon, he was supporting all of her weight, keeping her from falling. She was sleepy a lot, nowadays. She ended up falling asleep in his arms, her mind filled with flowers, and darkness, and sweet smells, and Steve.


End file.
